May 13, 2014 AT 5:00 pm

Creating Green Arrow’s Bow

Any time a comic book character gets adapted for television or a movie, you can bet the costume is going to change. For The CW’s Arrow, Oliver Queen gets a look that involves more leather but also looks sleeker. RPF user Tvayumat tackled the new ensemble and did a wonderful job making it screen accurate. He didn’t start with the green costume though; instead, he built the bow first. He used a Ragim Matrix Jr. 48 inch bow as the base and says it is a perfect match as far as the overall shape. Here are some notes on how he modified the bow to make it look just right:

I set to work removing the red lacquer finish from the bow riser. It was slow going at first when I was using 60 grit by hand, but after I remembered how rough the finished item was going to look anyway, I switched to a dremel with a sanding barrel attachment. Results were yielded much quicker.

At this point I ordered myself a woodburning pen to burn the mysterious symbols into the bow, and while I was waiting fabricated up some kid, drunk, and con-safe replacement bow limbs out of fiberglass and some epoxy putty.

It was mostly an experiment making flexible things out of fiberglass mat, and it worked out pretty well.

While waiting for things to arrive I experimented with weathering and staining the wood. Several failed experiments using vinegar/steel wool and sanding the riser back down *did* give me some fairly believable wear marks in any case.

After trying a lot of complicated answers, I decided to go for the ultimate shortcut and use Minwax combination wood stain and finish. Since it is an oil based stain, I wanted to do all my burning in advance, lest I immolate my new bow.